Prince's friend and surrogate brother, Andre Anderson, was also musically inclined, and the 2 began to jam together regularly in his mother's basement.

Upstairs, Prince shared a bedroom with Anderson. Despite being good friends, they were poor roommates; Anderson's side of the room was cluttered and disorganized, while Prince's was as meticulously ordered as a Marine barrack. Although he no longer lived with his father, Nelson's disciplined approach to life remained a significant influence on Prince, who sought greater order and privacy by moving into the basement...

Downstairs, he had much easier access to his instruments; already, Prince had started blending the distinction between home and musical workplace. Moreover, the basement became something of a private universe - a small slice of the world where he was in total control. A dark space with little natural light, it was nonetheless where he felt most comfortable, and it provided a prototype for the cloistered recording studios where he would spend the majority of his waking hours over the next thirty-plus years.

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The Anderson basement - Prince's bedroom and rehearsal space - also represented his first attempt to create an alternative community based around music and, perhaps, sex. Years later in interviews, Prince would recall it as a hedonistic wonderland where he and Anderson engaged in carnal acts with a variety of girlfriends.

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"My impression is that there were a lot of girls in that basement," said Howard Bloom, Prince's press agent during the 1980s. "He had grown up in the 1960's and the message was make love, not war. In the basement, he was going for liberation and entitlement to any sort of sexuality, pleasure, and enjoyment."

Recorded recorded in Owen Husney's(Loring Park Office) rehearsal room in 1977 in Minneapolis, Minnesota when Prince was only 19-years-old. This session consists of Prince, Andre Cymone and Bobby Z Rivkin coming together to throw down eight incredibly funky instrumental tracks. The sound quality is supreme with a groove that leans towards fusion that creates one funky session.

Prince's friend & surrogate brother, Andre Anderson (who later went by the name Andre Cymone), was also musically inclined, and the two began to jam together regularly in his mother's basement. It was around this time that John Nelson-perhaps as a peace offering in their difficult relationship - bought Prince a guitar. Anderson learned that bass, and Smith brought over a drum set to add to the din.

...

Upstairs, Prince shared a bedroom with Anderson. Despite being good friends they were poor roommates; Anderson's side of the room was cluttered and disorganized, while Prince's was as meticulously ordered as a Marine barrack.

5. Just As Long As We're Together co-lead:Andre Cymone Just as Long as We're Together #1 3:44 Just as Long as We're Together #2 5:47 Just as Long as We're Together #3 5:57

JUST AS LONG AS WE'RE 2GETHER

1976 Husney, Prince, and attorney Levinson got on a plane for Los Angeles and visited the swank offices of five labels: Warner Bros, CBS, A&M, RSO, and ABC/Dunhill. The manager and attorney made the initial pitch, after which Prince came in and said just a few words. The approach worked; after hearing the demo tape, the executives were curious to see the teenager who had pulled this off, and they were mesmerized by his oddly quiet manner. CBS then booked time at Village Recorders Studios and asked Prince to undertake an audition of sorts. He recorded "Just As Long As We're Together," one of the songs on his demo, as the executives looked on.

summer 1977 Ostin agreed, and Prince was flown to Amigo Studios in Los Angeles. Waronker and other officials discreetly drifted i and out as Prince recorded another version of "Just As Long As We're Together." As Husney recalled, "He thought these people were janitors." The executives, after watching Prince play every instrument as he constructed the song in the better part of a day, decided it would be folly to force a producer upon him; an artist this talented and headstrong would simply have to learn on the job. "Okay, we're going to have to burn a record on the guy," Waronker grumbled to Husney after the session. -Possessed: the Rise & Fall of Prince

The song consists of two verses and multiple repeats of the chorus before a coda at the end. The coda is actually an instrumental track originally called "Jelly Jam" that was added to "Just as Long as We're Together", and modified over time to blend into the main track. Andre Cymone co-leads on this song.

B-side:In Love

U can live your own life and I'll live mine I will never try 2 keep U down Even if I only see U some of the time I'm just happy when U come around Even if the sun don't shine I'm warm enough when U're in these arms of mine CHORUS: Just as long as we're 2gether Everything's alright (Everything's alright) Everything's alright (Everything's alright)

There is nothin' that will overcome the love we shareNothin' that will break us apart Girl, I got 2 always have U in my hair Gotta always have U in my heart Ooh baby, your place or mine I'll get the music baby, U bring the wine

Just as long as we're 2getherOh girl, there ain't nothin' better (Just as long as we're 2gether)

So how did you look?Fink: I was pretty rocked out. That's what he wanted. And he wanted an integrated band. The original group had thee black guys up front and three white people in the back a drummer, a keyboard player, and a female. He was trying to break the color barriers that were in place at the time.

In the early days, we were all groping for images of how we wanted to look onstage. Prince pretty much left it up to each individual member of the band to figure it out – of course, with his final approval. I’ll never forget the first videos we did. I hadn’t been able to come up with anything he liked, so he hand-ed me a kind of khaki paratrooper jump suit real Army issue. Then I found some real weird space-age sunglasses. That was my image for the first video. Then I rented a gold satin tails-type tuxedo with black lapels and wore that with no shirt underneath for the next video. The next thing we did was American Bandstand our first television appearance. Our bass player, Andre Cymone, who has gone on to produce Jody Whatley and a lot of other people, wore clear plastic pants with red underwear, red suspenders, and a black tank top. He was in them for so long that they steamed up with condensed sweat. I wore a black and white striped jail outfit. And Prince was wearing dancer's knee-high stockings with boots.

Yet The Artist has plenty to say about the dangers of ego in a musical context. "My first bass player was Andre Cymone," he remembers, "and Andre’s ego always got in the way of his playing. He always played on top of the beat, and I’m convinced that was just because he wanted to be heard. Andre and I would fight every night, because I was always trying to get him to sound like Larry Graham. Larry’s happy just going [mimics thumping open-string quarter-notes] -- he’s not interested in showing off. When you’re showing off it means you aren’t listening."

I love music, any kind of music
I love music, just as long as it's groovin'
Music is the healing force of the world
It's understood by every man, woman, boy and girl
And that's why, that's why I say
I love music...

The word "fuck" was said twice in this episode. In Prince's performance of "Party Up", he sang the lyric "Fightin' war is such a fuckin' bore" and it went unnoticed at the time. But in the closing goodnight segment, Charles Rocket clearly said "I'd like to know who the fuck did it." Rocket and executive producer Jean Doumanian were fired after the next episode.

The word "fuck" was said twice in this episode. In Prince's performance of "Party Up", he sang the lyric "Fightin' war is such a fuckin' bore" and it went unnoticed at the time. But in the closing goodnight segment, Charles Rocket clearly said "I'd like to know who the fuck did it." Rocket and executive producer Jean Doumanian were fired after the next episode.

What was the real date for this SNL episode, because you have it as occurring in 2011.

Prince spends his 28th birthday treating the fans at the sold out 12,000 seat Cobo Arena in Detroit to a superb 2hr show. Several people guested on stage, including Andre Cymone (during The Dance Electric), Sheila E and opening act Mazarati...